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Description
From the very first hours of the war in Ukraine, false information and comments have appeared on social networks and media channels to justify Russia''s aggression. The analysis of the messages and their sources shows a convergence between the supporters of aggression and the promoters of conspiracy theories related to COVID19, those who deny climate change, those who support the so-called "traditional" values ("defended" by Putin) versus the denial of rights for different types of vulnerable minorities (presented as a form of "decadence of the West"). The effects of false information are already visible in a few European countries, where populists and extremist groups have greatly increased their support based on such messages.
The project aims to contribute to balancing out the situation by engaging citizens in monitoring and reporting false information, by disseminating demystifying messages through its own channels (Clean Romania platform, FB and Instagram groups of SAR, people involved in the project, newsletters), but also by training journalists, respectively communication managers from NGOs in recognizing manipulative messages and in acquiring the capacity to debunk them. We foresee drafting and publishing over 100 journalistic articles, distributing them through approximately 40 newsletters and including them in general newsletters sent by Clean Romania (9,000 emails), dissemination on the FB page (app. 53,000 likes), on Instagram and on pages of the collaborators involved in the project (over 200,000 followers), organizing a debunking training for journalists and communication managers from NGOs, drafting a demystification index and analytical dissemination of the project results.